A story released today by the Associated Press
reports that more heterosexual couples are opting for domestic
partnership rather than marriage.

As same-sex couples fight for their
right to marry, some straight couples - who could marry if they wanted
to - are deciding against it. Instead, they're registering as "domestic
partners," an option offered by some cities and counties, mainly with
gay and lesbian couples in mind.

National statistics aren't available,
since some municipalities don't track domestic partners' gender or make
their registries public. But experts are noting early signs that, while
the marriage rate continues to decline, these alternative arrangements
are piquing some straight couples' interest.

Some heterosexuals, following a trend
already popular in such countries as Sweden and France, choose domestic
partnership for practical reasons.

Christopher Price and Bonnie Fletcher,
both 25, did so in New York City last fall so they could qualify for
student housing for couples at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where
they are graduate students.

Not ready to marry, Price calls their
decision "a good, first, small step."

"The first thing you do is you move in.
The next thing you do is get a dog," he says, chuckling. "And then
you'll find out who's responsible or not."

Others are making a political statement
- as a show of support for same-sex couples who don't have the same
option. And some groups, led by heterosexuals, are even calling for a
"marriage boycott" to protest a proposed constitutional amendment
defining the institution as between a woman and a man.

"I just don't think the state should be
in the position of sanctioning who should be a family and who
shouldn't," says Jennifer Gaboury, another New Yorker.

She and Jacob Goldfinger, both 33,
registered as a domestic partners last year and, instead of having a
wedding, invited family and friends to their "commitzvah." The ceremony
included the traditional Jewish breaking of the glass after they
exchanged vows. But there was no minister or justice of the peace - and
no marriage license.

Gaboury says she arrived at her
decision not to marry in college, after realizing that a lesbian friend
couldn't do so. Goldfinger grew to share her views. He says getting
married "would have been like eating at a segregated lunch counter."

Those calling for a marriage boycott
applaud the decision, even if dissuading couples from legally tying the
knot is difficult.

So far, Phoebe Rosenberg Jones - a
straight, single, 26-year-old from Los Angeles, who recently posted the
site Boycott-marriage.com - says she's persuaded one couple to postpone
their wedding and has others considering it.

"I would just like to get more straight
people engaged in the issue - no pun intended," says Rosenberg Jones,
whose opposition to a constitutional amendment inspired her to act.

Dorian Solot says she's also heard from
several couples who are boycotting marriage. She's executive director of
the Alternatives to Marriage Project, a nonprofit that provides
information and support to couples who don't wish to marry - and that
posted its own boycott page last month.

"It becomes clearer every day that when
it comes to relationships and families, there's no one size that fits
all," says Solot, who is registered as a domestic partner with her
longtime companion, Marshall Miller. They live in Albany, N.Y., and
recently celebrated, as Solot calls it, their 11th "unmarried
anniversary."

Frank Furstenberg, a sociologist at the
University of Pennsylvania, says it's not surprising that some couples -
especially young ones - are shunning marriage "as a sign of solidarity"
with their lesbian and gay peers. In fact, he wonders if pushing the
"one man, one woman" definition might only further the trend.

"We are genuinely running the risk of
making marriage uncool," says Furstenberg, a senior research scholar at
the Council on Contemporary Families.

But David Popenoe, a sociologist who
tracks marriage trends, calls the idea of a marriage boycott "idiotic."

As co-director of the National Marriage
Project at Rutgers University, he argues that the focus should be on
creating more stable and committed relationships - gay or straight.

"My concern about that is children. The
less stable the relationship, the worse it is for children," he says.
Choosing domestic partnership over marriage, he contends, often
"represents a decline in commitment."

Marion Willetts - a sociologist at
Illinois State University who has surveyed straight domestic partners -
argues that that's not always the case.

But she says couples who choose
domestic partnership need to do more to define their relationships
legally. She found, for instance, that those she surveyed had done
little to prepare for the death of a partner or a potential break up.

"It concerned me," she says. "There
wasn't a lot of planning for the future."